Last week, President of Poland Bronisław Komorowski approved a new amendment to the country’s gaming legislation that will allow European companies to offer their services in Poland. This means that companies that have been established in the territory of the EU (European Union) or European Free Trade Association members will be able to offer gambling services, as long as they commit to the terms specified in the new amendment.
One of these terms includes establishing a presence in Poland, either through a Polish office branch or a Polish representative.
President Bronislaw’s official release stated, “Under the present legislation the following activities: card games, dice games, gaming machines, cash bingo, betting and lottery audio texts can be carried out only in the form of a joint stock company or a limited liability company, established on Polish territory.”
Journey to The Amendment
In general, Poland’s rules for the gambling industry have been very strict, especially regarding foreign operators in the local market. Which is why the approval of Poland’s new amendment did not happen overnight; in fact, it took almost a year to receive approval. The Polish government first submitted a draft of the amendment to the European Commission (EC) in 2014. The draft was edited in January 2015 based on feedback from the Subcommittee for Controlling the Budget Implementation, and finally approved in August 2015.
Given that the EU gambling market is estimated at approximately 84.9 billion euro annually (yes, you read that correctly), with a yearly growth rate of 3%, more and more countries are looking to the EC for regulation approval.
